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Former Demon Waggoner scores first pro goal with United

will webber and james barron, the santa fe new mexican
·5 min read

May 14—A New Mexico United win? Great.

Former Santa Fe High soccer star Alex Waggoner scoring his first professional goal with the home team before stepping onto the collegiate pitch at the University of Michigan? Even better.

Waggoner already made an impact on the United's roster, getting playing time this season, but he broke through in a big way during Saturday's 2-1 win over Monterey Bay FC at Isotopes Park.

Waggoner scored off a redirect of Armando Moreno's shot on frame that was blocked by Monterey goalkeeper Antony Siaha to give New Mexico a 1-0 lead. After his score, Waggoner raced over to "The Curse" fan base and celebrated with them.

"I was told to just follow whenever somebody shoots, as a striker," Waggoner said in a post-game press conference. "So from there, it's just instinct and just try to get a toe to the ball and then see one into the back of the net. I just went to the fans because that wall of fans is amazing."

Waggoner is playing for The United on an academy contract, in which he is not getting paid to play for the club to preserve his college eligibility. Waggoner led the state in goals with 73 as a junior in 2021, as he led Santa Fe High to its first state title.

He parlayed that into a spot on the United's Club Academy team in the summer of 2022 and made his presence felt quickly.

In September, he scored two goals in a 5-1 win over San Diego Loyal Academy to help the United Academy secure first place in the Southwest Division of the USL Academy League. Waggoner scored six goals and dished out three assists in the USL Academy Playoff Tournament in Tampa, Fla., in November, which earned him the 2022 Offensive MVP Award.

That performance led the main club to offer Waggoner an opportunity to play for it.

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The New Mexico Activities Association estimated the more than 5,000 fans attended each of the first two days of the recent state baseball tournament at the Jennifer Riordan Spark Kindness Sports Complex in Albuquerque.

For anyone who has frequented the picturesque five-field facility on the outskirts of the west mesa, they'd attest that parking was an absolute circus during those first two days. Rarely is there a need for overflow parking, but that was definitely the case Thursday and Friday when the state quarterfinals in each classification created a swell of crowds all day.

The facility's only parking lot was at capacity, forcing a number of vehicles to park along the main street outside the venue. The lines for the concession stand was bad, and seating was nowhere to be found at the fields once the games started.

That said, here's some perspective: If 5,000 fans were, indeed, there both days, it would have surpassed the Oakland A's home attendance this season in seven games at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. That's right, seven times the A's have failed to draw that many fans to a major league game.

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The college signings continue to pile up in Northern New Mexico as we hit the halfway point in May.

Escalante's Cipriana Garcia, a 5-foot-8 senior wing, announced this weekend she will attend Lamar Community College in Colorado for the 2023-24 season. Garcia was the third-leading scorer on the Lady Lobos' Class 2A runner-up squad, averaging 8.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

Also, 2022 Santa Fe High graduate Jaiden Eustice has elected to resume her softball career at Luna Community College in Las Vegas, N.M. A five-year varsity player for the Demonettes, Eustice played a utility role as well as a starting pitcher during her time there.

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Former Pecos head boys basketball coach and Escalante High School principal/athletic director Ira Harge will become the AD at Bernalillo High School next year.

Harge spent the past two years at Escalante after two years at Española Valley as the AD. He was at Pecos from 2013-20, guiding the Panthers to four straight state titles from 2017-2020 and had a 151-50 record at the school.

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We're just two weeks away from the start of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

Barring an unlikely rally from either of the state's marquee programs, June will go on without the Lobos or Aggies on the diamond. Through Sunday's games, the University of New Mexico was 26-21 overall and 13-14 in the Mountain West, while New Mexico State was 12-35, 9-21 in the Western Athletic Conference.

What's worse, the state's two Division II schools had losing records. Eastern New Mexico finished 23-28 while New Mexico Highlands had one of the worst seasons of any team in the country by going 3-47 and losing its final 15 games to finish 2-30 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

It's not all bad, though. Luna Community College as 21-35 and was largely competitive in its conference all season. New Mexico Military is currently 40-19.

The best place of all was New Mexico Junior College. The Thunderbirds are 45-12 overall and 30-6 in conference play. They're ranked No. 9 in the latest National Junior College Athletic Association Division I poll.

On Monday they'll take part in the NJCAA Region V Tournament in Weatherford, Texas. The JUCO World Series starts later this month in Grand Junction, Colo.